If my suspicions are right, just replacing the reset gear of a TN3430 with a gear for the TN3480 will give us 8000 pages with a TN3430. Right now, an OEM Brother TN3430 toner ( yield 3000 pages) is priced 75 euros and the TN3480 ( for 8000 pages ) is roughly 120 euros. In my case, the Brother HL-L5000D and other models using the same toners, have no chip at all, only a reset gear which differs according to the type of cartridge. Think of the number of toners which are discarded still containing maybe 70-80% of powder inside. Īt this point I’m starting to think that manufacturers of laser printers are still greedier than the inkjet world. I’ll keep you updated, maybe I’ll reach 8000 pages. How much powder does Brother put inside those starter cartridges ?. The question is, if the starter toner has powder for only 2000 pages, how come after 2700 the copies are still perfect without any signs of exhaustion? I print quite dense text, for sure with more than the 5% of coverage corresponding to the specifications. It seems that when I inserted the defective cartridge, the machine resetted the toner lifespan to 8000 pages and when I reinstalled the original unit (which hasn’t a reset gear) the machine didn’t notice the change and still believes that it has a 8000 pages cartridge. Besides, when I check the status of the toner on the printer menu it says remaining 70%. Waiting for a new toner to arrive, I reinstalled the original (supposedly almost empty) shacking it sideways to redistribute the remaining powder inside, with the hope of getting a few pages from it.įact is that I’ve printed 1000 pages more with the original starter toner and the prints come out flawless. Unfortunately, that one was a dud, leaking toner from one side so I returned it and I was refunded. Therefore I replaced it with a compatible cartridge for 8000 pages. When I had printed around 1700 pages, the printer gave a warning message of low toner. As most of you know, these printers come with a special cartridge toner, called starter, that doesn’t have a reset gear and also yields less pages (2000) than the regular toners for this printer ( TN3430=3000 pages and TN3480=8000 pages) Recently I purchased a Brother HL-L5000D.